The median housing
price in Orange County has generally stabilized around $580,000
for much of 2014, but home value may make a new receding shift
in the first quarter of 2015. Orange County’s median home price
in January 2015 is $562,000, a decline of $28,500 since the previous
month’s median and an increase of $12,500 since the previous January.
This marks the largest month-over-month decline in home value
since December 2010. Whether home values will maintain this new
low for the succeeding months of the new year remains to be seen.

Apartment rental rates in Orange County have seen strong year-over-year growth
since 2012 and continue to climb to new heights in 2015. The Orange
County average rental rate in January 2015 is $1,824 – roughly
$125 higher than the previous January, and a higher average than
any single month in 2014. On a per-city basis, Orange and Huntington
Beach had the highest month-over-month growth ($81 and $44), while
Irvine saw the largest decline ($70) despite typically leading
growth in previous months.

Orange County Building permit activity in October 2014 hit landmark highs with
1,892 permits granted during the month. December 2014 brought
two consecutive months of modest permit growth, with 745 new permits
recorded in the county for the month. While Irvine was responsible
for 19 percent of new permits issued in the December month, it
was Anaheim that led for December overall, claiming 38 percent
of permit activity.

Orange County’s median home price is compared to other regions, showing
the year-over-year and month-over-month change in value.

Source: Dataquick

Average
Apartment Rents Orange County and by Major City

This indicator shows the average apartment rent for major Orange County
cities and for the county average as a whole. The county average as a whole
is not the average of the seven cities shown in this chart but for all the
cities in Orange County.